How Many Photos From a 36 Roll?

[snowblink]

Just for fun questions:

How many shots can you get from a 36 roll out of your Bessa?
How many do you wind on initially?

 

[hofrench@mac.co]

Can't vouch for the Bessa. The Hexar RF gets 38 shots. A bargain in every roll.

 

[peterc]

When I use 36 exposure rolls I usually stop at 35 since I store negs in pages that hold 35 frames.
I prefer 20 or 24 exposure rolls.

 

[Didier]

When I soup the rolls myself I dont shoot more than 36. In the darkroom and later in the dry cabinet I'm glad to have some space at both ends. With bulk rolls it's even 35 or 34 pictures only, as the beginnings/ends of the rolls have more fingerprints.

Hmm I'm talking of the past comes to my mind 🙂

Didier

 

[Thardy]

Routinely 37, and I forget how many I wind initially, but it's more than one or two.

 

[drewbarb]

I get 39 full frames almost every time. Occasionally I get 40, but most often the first frame is partly burnt in the leader.

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I've got a whole heap of 36 exposure films but I usually stop at about frame 30 or so and reload.

 

[Bob Michaels]

I always rewind shooting 35mm around 30 exposures, when I see a break in the action , sometimes earlier. If I'm shooting things that will wait and hold still, I'm shooting MF anyway.

At the NASA launch of Challenger in 1986, the pool of press photographers held down their motor drives shooting 36-37-38 frames as Challenger went up. Michael Brown, photographer for Florida Today (predecessor for USA Today) shot about 30 frames, saving the end of the roll. When the Challenger exploded, everyone began furiously reloading while Michael Brown used the remaining frames in his camera to shoot the photo that was featured on the front page of almost every daily newspaper and many magazines.
Michael, a casual photo friend, said he learned that that trick from Bob McDonald, photo editor of Florida Today. I learned it from Michael. Now I haven't had an event of the magnitude of Challenger disaster happen while I had film left and no one else did. Probably never will. But I seldom have to ask an interesting subject to "hold that pose, hold that expression" while I get a new roll of film.

 

[Tarzak]

I usually get 38

 

[Ronald M]

36. Stretching risks torn sprocket holes and damaged shutters. 6 x 6 long fit my contact printer, file pages, and scanner.

 

[sienarot]

When I use 36 exposure rolls I usually stop at 35 since I store negs in pages that hold 35 frames.

Ditto. 4321

 

[popstar]

Like a couple of others I usually stop at 35. I suppose I could shoot the last couple, but I have no problem letting them go.

 

[amateriat]

Bob: Thanks for the story on Michael Brown...never knew that till now, oddly.

Can't vouch for the Bessa. The Hexar RF gets 38 shots. A bargain in every roll.

Same experience here with my HRFs (and my former Hexar AF). The big deal here is that, in the age of manual film-wind, I routinely got a "safe" 37-38 frames per roll, but this disappeared when I "got motorized" (starting wirh my first, a Canon F-1 with Motor Drive MF...so named, i mused at the time, because the body/motor combo was so weighty that one couldn't help commenting on the set being "one heavy MF"). 😛

It was only when I started shooting with Konica stuff – first the Hex AF, then the RF (and, heck, even my little Lexio 70), that that extra frame or two came back. But since (1) all my film scanners' neg holders worked with strips of six, and (2) I store said film strips in glassine envelopes just fine, I try to keep the exposures to 36 or less. Sometimes, though, that 37th (or 38th frame) camoes in handy. Ask Mike Johnston. (Or Jim Elder, whose old Camera 35 column was titiled "The 40th Frame.") 😉


- Barrett

 

[pvdhaar]

I can get about 39 shots on a roll in the Bessa. After loading the film, the frame just before the counter goes from S to 0 can already be used..

Usually though, I rewind well before the counter gets anywhere near 36. I'm just too curious to find what I've shot..

 

[Monz]

Usually I can get 39 frames from an M6 if I start shooting from when the counter reaches '0'--Monz

 

[ClaremontPhoto]

I go the other way.

When I set out for a planned photo trip I load a new 36 exposure film, but usually finish at about 25 exposures or so and rewind.

The reason is that I like to have some spare if it takes me more than 25 attempts, and also that I won a whole bunch of 36 exposure films in a competition and those films need using.

 

[like2fiddle]

I usually get as many shots as I can on a roll, 39-40 sometimes; must be the frugal New England Yankee in me coming out.😀 I've read some compelling reasons in this thread, however, to convince me I should try to limit myself to 36 or less.

 

[BJ Bignell]

I almost always get 38 shots.

When I load, I set the film and start winding to take it up; if I see that it sticks, I close the back at the same time. Then I wind twice; the first frame is wasted, the second will become the first frame on the roll.

 

[pesphoto]

I think I get 36, when I load I wind I always snap the shutter and wind the film 3 times before closing the back, then advance it to the 1st frame. I like to have plenty of room on either end for hanging when drying.

 

[photophorous]

I almost always get 38 shots.

When I load, I set the film and start winding to take it up; if I see that it sticks, I close the back at the same time. Then I wind twice; the first frame is wasted, the second will become the first frame on the roll.

Same for me.

I actually get 38 and a half most of the time. I think if I loaded my film in a darkroom or changing bag, I could get 40, consistently. This is with a Bessa R2A.